The US Department of Labor (DOL) Administrative Review Board (ARB) recently issued a decision in the case of Evans v. US Environmental Protection Agency, ARB Case No. 2017-0008, ALJ Case No. 2008-CAA-00003 (ARB Mar. 17, 2020), dismissing a whistleblower complaint filed under various employee protection provisions and finding that the employer's actions against the complainant were reasonable and taken to ensure employee safety after the complainant threatened to bring a gun to work. The ARB’s decision is instructive for employers deciding how to respond to workplace threats and establishes that such actions—when reasonably based on the circumstances—will not be considered retaliatory. The ARB’s decision also addresses the legal standard for motions to dismiss a complaint before a hearing, and reinforces that for a concern to be protected, it must be grounded in a reasonably perceived violation.

The NRC on May 3 took the overdue step of withdrawing portions of certain power reactor security requirements—issued via three agency orders in the aftermath of the events of September 11, 2001, which were subsequently captured in agency regulations:

The NRC, with the approval of the US attorney general, recently published a second revision to its guidelines on the use of weapons by licensee security personnel whose official duties include the protection of designated facilities, certain radioactive material or other licensee property, and licensee material or property that is being transported to or from a licensee facility. The changes were made to ensure consistency with existing FBI procedures on appeals of background check delays or denials. The updated guidelines were published in the Federal Register on March 8, 2019, and took effect the same day.